Although there are many ways to prepare food for consumption, one common method of preparing foods is to cook the food by frying. Additionally, one method of frying food is to “deep fry” the food by placing the uncooked food in a quantity of cooking liquid. In most deep frying situations, the cooking liquid typically comprises a cooking oil, such as vegetable oil or animal fat. The food product is immersed in the cooking oil. The cooking oil is typically at a high temperature, such as above 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Devices for deep frying are common in commercial food preparation environments. They are also becoming increasingly common in the home environment. Although a commercial frying apparatus and a home frying apparatus may be constructed on different scales, these two types of fryers have some of the same basic features.
The primary feature of a typical fryer, whether commercial or residential, is a cooking tank housing the heated bath of cooking oil. The cooking tank is usually designed so that it may receive a metal basket into the tank. Food is placed in the metal basket and lowered into the cooking oil so that the food is at least partially submersed in the oil.
A heating device is typically used to maintain the oil in the tank at a substantially constant temperature. This heating device usually comprises a gas burner placed below the tank.
The typical fryers used in commercial and residential settings do not remove the oil from the tank during operation. The cooking oil simply remains in the tank and the temperature of the oil is regulated by heating the oil while the oil remains in the tank. In contrast, a recirculating fryer removes oil from the tank, adjusts the heat energy in the oil, and then returns the oil to the tank.
There have been previous attempts to develop a commercial recirculating fryer. However, these recirculating fryer designs have all suffered from a number of limitations. For example, some recirculating fryer designs exhibited problems with leaking seals in the pump. The pump seals became worn with use and began to leak. Other designs, while not necessarily having a problem with leaking seals, experienced failure of the pump bearings. This was usually a result of the arrangement of the pump. In general, the prior recirculating fryers were far too expensive to maintain in order to be feasible for commercial use.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to develop a convection recirculating fryer that is efficient, cost-effective, and having reasonable maintenance costs.